Coord 215: Membership Transfer

Synopsis

The purpose of this course is to help coordinators and players understand the OOC membership transfer process. This course can help ensure that the membership transfer process goes as smoothly as possible, and includes all the necessary documents for the member’s new chapter or domain.

When to Transfer

Transferring a membership is quite different than moving a character to another VSS. Members should normally only be transferring to another chapter or domain if they are moving to live in a new location. Special circumstances can occur where a member is unable to be a part of the club in their local geographic area – if you think this applies to you, contact your Regional Coordinator to discuss the circumstances.

Members: Starting the Transfer Process

When moving to a new location, the first thing a member should do is determine which chapter or domain they’ll be a part of at the new destination. For transfers within a region, this is determined by the Regional Coordinator for that region. In cross-regional transfers, the National Coordinator makes the determination instead. The member should contact the right officers (Regional or National Coordinator) and let them know what physical town or city they’re moving to. By default the member will be part of the domain or chapter which contains their primary residence, but they can ask to be assigned to another city in cases where they’ll more easily able to make that game than their local one. In places where there is no local chapter or domain within 30 miles, the member can be assigned to the Virtual chapter for their region (or else the member can ask the RC or NC to be assigned to a nearby city if they think they’ll make the trip to game regularly).

Once the officer has let the member know where their destination group is, s/he should email their current direct Coordinator about the transfer. Things will be easiest if the member provides the following info to their Coordinator with their request:

Name

MES #

Physical location of transfer (ie, what city the member is moving to)

Domain and region the member is transferring into

The above info will help the Coordinator to gather together all the necessary records, and will also help in contacting the right member of the Coordinator chain at the destination to send those records to.

Coordinators: What to Transfer

Once a member has let an officer know that they’d like to transfer – and where – it’s time to start collecting that member’s information to send to the Coordinator chain at their destination. The coordinator should be sending anything specifically related to the transferring member that they’d normally keep in their own records. This includes:

Most recent copy of member’s Prestige log and last known totals (This copy should be updated to the totals of the current last report issued, not left blank in the interim between the last audit and the current date.)

Any Disciplinary Actions or Letters of Counseling that the member has received

Information regarding any ongoing investigations involving the member (any details that their direct Coordinator is normally included on).

Next, find the right person to send this to. Details of a domain or chapter’s officer chain can be found in the CRD, a tool located on the MES Membership Portal (under Legacy Tools > CRD). An officer can browse locations based on region, or search by name, location code or zip code. Once the officer has found the right location, the Coordinator for that group will be listed on that location’s page in the right sidebar. Clicking on the Coordinator’s title (not their name) will open to a page where their position email is listed. That’s the contact email that should be used for the transfer process.

Once the transfer happens, two more things need to change. First, the member needs to be re-assigned to the new domain or chapter in the CRD. As their Coordinator, this can be done for them by finding the member’s profile and choosing to change that member’s Domain.

Second, the member needs to correctly assign themselves to a new domain in the Approvals database and Standards testing system. No one else can do this for them, and this is important for Approvals and Standards results to reach the right chain. The member’s coordinator should encourage the member to reassign as soon as possible (and to do any necessary VSS transfers for their characters at the same time).

Examples of Transfers

Member A is moving from Seattle, in the North West region, to Olympia, also in the North West region. The member checks with the Regional Coordinator, who confirms the name of the Domain in Olympia (Carthago Nova) and that A is transferring there. A then tells his current coordinator that he’s transferring to Carthago Nova in Olympia.

A’s Coordinator checks their records in the Coordinator account email, and finds that A has received a Letter of Counseling. A’s Coordinator sends the information regarding this LOC (and their most recent copy of Member A’s Prestige Log and totals) to the Domain Coordinator of Olympia. A’s Coordinator receives a confirmation of the transfer, then goes to the CRD and re-assigns A to the Carthago Nova Domain. A’s Coordinator then reminds A to change his Domain inside the Approvals database and complete any remaining VSS transfers for his PCs.

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Member B is moving from Miami to Los Angeles. This is a cross-regional transfer from the SE Region to the SW Region. B must contact the National Coordinator, who assigns B to the Domain of Los Angeles. B lets her current Coordinator in Miami know where she’s moving to.

B’s Coordinator finds that B has not been involved in any investigations and has no Disciplinary Actions or Letters of Counseling. B’s Coordinator only needs to send Prestige records to the Coordinator in Los Angeles. Once this is confirmed, B’s Coordinator lets B know to change her domain in the Approvals database – and notes that B has changed their domain in the CRD properly. B’s Coordinator then wishes B a safe move and good times at the game in Los Angeles!